Operationalising a social–ecological system perspective on the Arctic Ocean

We propose a framework to support management that builds on a social–ecological system perspective on the Arctic Ocean. We illustrate the framework’s application for two policy-relevant scenarios of climate-driven change, picturing a shift in zooplankton composition and alternatively a crab invasion. We analyse archetypical system dynamics between the socioeconomic, the natural, and the governance systems in these scenarios. Our holistic approach can help managers identify looming problems arising from complex system interactions and prioritise among problems and solutions, even when available data are limited.

Keywords: Arctic Ocean, Integrated ecosystem-based management, Marine food web, Regime shifts, social-ecological system

Crépin, A.-C., Å. Gren, G. Engström and D. Ospina. 2017. Operationalising a social–ecological system perspective on the Arctic Ocean. Ambio 46:S475–S485.